The charges were dismissed
by a defiant Raghavji and
his family as a political conspiracy

Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji resigned, one day before his 80th birthday and hours after a man approached the police alleging that the 79-year-old former MP had sodomised him.

The man claimed Raghavji and two of his aides exploited him on the promise that they would help him get a job.

He walked into the Habibganj Police Station in Bhopal and submitted an affidavit of complaint, claiming he is in possession of a CD that contains a mobile phone video of the former minister caught in the act.

The charges, though, were dismissed by a defiant Raghavji and his family as a political conspiracy.

Raghavji, who set a record of sorts as finance minister by presenting 10 budgets in a row from 2004 to 2013, said the only reason he resigned was because Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had asked him to.

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"The allegations against me are false. I have not done anything wrong," he said.

"The Chief Minister called up around 10.30 am and asked me to tender my resignation. Only he can tell you the details (of why my resignation was sought). He said he was going to Raipur and will let me know of the reasons on his return," Raghavji said.

"There could be a political conspiracy behind the allegations," the MLA from Vidisha, added.

Chouhan, however, insisted that Raghavji had resigned of his own accord.

The Chief Minister immediately forwarded the resignation to Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, and gave Water Resources Minister Jayant Mallaiya the additional charge of finance.

Raghavji's wife Heeraben said her husband was being victimised.

"His position is such that people whose work doesn't get done begin to level false allegations. Sometimes such charges are also made in order to extort money," she said.

His daughter, too, refuted the allegations, terming them strange.

As the controversy rages on, the alleged victim himself remains out of media's reach.

All attempts to reach him proved futile, and even his house was found locked.

The police have so far not registered a case against Raghavji.

"We will only register a case after examining the CD," Jayant Singh Rathore, City Superintendent of Police (Habibganj), said.

The allegations were immediately picked up by the Opposition to attack the state's BJP government.

"In politics, 'moral corruption' is the worst thing," Ajay Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, said.

"The CM should tell the people what prompted him to seek Raghavji's resignation. He should face the judicial process as a common man," MP Congress spokesman Mukesh Nayak said.